GCOG October 2019 Newsletter

Established 1997

Volume 23 - OCTOBER 2019 Issue 10 GARDENING IN SPRING Pg 2 3 4-5 6-7 8-9 10-12

Club Information Notice Board, Guest Speak ers, Workshops September Speaker Recap Jill’s Garden Update Look What We Grew Firstly a Community, then a Garden…

13 14-15 16-17 17 18 19

EdibleScapes Update A Trip to Diggers Let It Grow Recipes Fruit Trees Vegetables and Herbs

OUR NEXT MEETING: Thursday 21st NOVEMBER 2019

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2015 Committee 2018 –2019 Committee

Notice Board 1. To promote organic sustainable food raising for home gardens and farms.

2. To foster research into improved methods of organic farming and gardening.

3. To provide information and support to all those interested in the various aspects of organic growing.

Meetings Held: 3rd Thursday of the Month The Meeting Place, Cnr Guineas Creek Rd and Coolgardie St, Elanora.

Doors open: 7:00 pm. Begin at 7:30 pm Entry is $2 members, $5 visitors.

(No meeting in December) Annual Membership Fees: Single: $20. Family: $30.

To renew or start memberships please transfer funds directly into our bank account, send cheques (payable to GCOG) to PO Box 210, Mudgeeraba Qld 4213, or just pay at the door.

Name: Bank: BSB: Account:

Gold Coast Organic Growers Suncorp 484-799 0014-21651

Seed Bank: Packets are $2.00 each.

Members’ Market Corner: Please bring plants, books and produce you wish to sell or trade.

Raffle Table: This relies on the kind generosity of members to donate items on the night. Tickets - $1each or 3 for $2.

Library: Books 50c, Videos, DVDs $2, Soil Test Kit $2. Available to members for 1 month.

Advertising: (Note 11 issues/year) 1/4 page: $15 an issue, or $145 per year, 1/2 page: $25 an issue, or $250 per year, full page: $40 an issue, or $400 per year, W: www.goldcoastorganicgrowers.org Facebook: www.facebook.com/gcorganic

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President

Maria Roberson (07) 5598 6609

Vice President

Diane Kelly 0403 473 892

Treasurer

Diane Kelly 0403 473 892

Secretary

Cathie Hodge 0406 575 233

cathie.hodge@gmail.com

Assistant Sec

Penny Jameson 0411 639 558

Membership Sec Membership Asst

Diane Kelly Penny Jameson

Newsletter Editor

Leah Johnston leahbryan9@gmail.com Diane Kelly Jill Barber Jorge Cantellano Stacey Panozzo Dorothy Coe

Newsletter Assts.

Website Editor Social Media E. Advertising Guest Speaker Liaison

Stacey Panozzo 0406 007 583 staceypanozzo1@gmail.com Leah Johnston, leahbryan9@gmail.com Stacey Panozzo

Librarians

Evelyn Douglas

Seed Bank Seed Assistants

Lyn Mansfield Maggie Golightly Bill Smart

Supper Co-ordinator

Paul Roberson, Deb Phillips, Bev Geraghty

Veggie Swap Co-ordinator

Dorothy Coe

Newsletter Contributions are welcome.

Send in a photo of what’s going on in your patch or write an article about something interesting you’ve learnt recently. Deadline for contributions is two weeks before the meeting. Send articles and photos to Leah at

leahbryan9@gmail.com

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Notice Board Membership Renewals NEW: You can now pay your membership fee directly into the GCOG bank account.

Name: Bank: BSB: Account:

Gold Coast Organic Growers Suncorp 484-799 0014-21651

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Upcoming Guest Speakers November 21 - John Palmer ‘Edible Wild Weeds’ (bring specimens from your own garden for identification.)

No meeting in December.

January 16 - Welcome back and Q&A. February 20 - AGM and Member Talks

Remember to put your Name and Membership Number in the comment field.

March 19 - Kevin Redd ‘Fruits to Grow in the Subtropics’

Note the number in brackets after your name is your membership number - you will need to quote this number in the comment field, if you pay via online banking.

To suggest a speaker please contact Leah Johnston via leahbryan9@gmail.com

Overdue: Henry Blonner (108), Neil Ross (294).

October: John Palmer (357).

November: Rodney & Cathy Boscoe (347), Megan Keeler (358), Peter Turnermann (444), Gary & Sue Webb (445).

Workshops Gardening Lunch – all welcome We meet monthly for lunch and have a chat.

11 am to 2 pm – at a trendy café somewhere (any recommendation welcomed) If you would like to know when the next lunch is on email Lyn Mansfield Lynmansfield14@bigpond.com Mobile – 0409 645 888 EdibleScapes Working bee/workshop 2nd Saturday of each month - 8:30am to 10:30am Edible Landscape gardens Project. http://ediblescapes.org/ If you have a free event you would like us to share in our newsletter please let us know about it by sending the details to Leah at: leahbryan9@gmail.com View our Newsletters On-Line or Collect at our Meetings:www.goldcoastorganicgrowers.org.au/ Thanks to this month’s contributors: Jill Barber, Jorge Cantellano, Maggie Golightly, Leah Johnston, Diane Kelly, Amy Lukens, Stacey Panozzo and Maria Roberson.

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September Speaker Recap

by Leah Johnston

At the September meeting we were lucky enough to welcome prolific author Jackie French.

Jackie has written more than 100 books across different genres and for different audiences. I know her best for her Diary of a Wombat children’s picture book series, but she also writes fiction for children, young adults and adults and plenty of non-fiction and history books as well. Of course, it is her gardening books which most of our members know Jackie best for. GCOG President, Maria Roberson, was actually inspired to start gardening after reading Jackie’s book Backyard Self Sufficiency.

“It was a huge inspiration to me. In 1991 Paul and I bought a house on a quarter-acre block in the heart of Ipswich city, and, thanks to Jackie’s book, we turned the whole yard into a thriving and productive food garden. We had chooks and ducks, veggies and fruit trees everywhere, with just a cricket pitch of grass down the centre for our boys to play on. I still remember Jackie’s tip about the best way to ‘keep’ eggs in a time of plenty: make fruit cakes for Christmas, advice I still follow to this day,” Maria said.

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Jackie told stories of what she’s learnt about gardening over the years, and there were many tips we could take away from that. For instance, for avocados, just apply dolomite once every ten years and wattle bark mulch around the base.

Jackie had great advice about working with the land you have, not against it.

“If you plant things in the right place, they will stay there for tens of thousands of years because they will reseed. That is what it’s like where I live,” she said.

Jackie spoke of realising that we had climate change happening back in the early 1970s. This inspired her to live her life in a different way. Back then if you had a brain, you didn’t do any jobs that used your hands. Other people did your garden and cleaned your house.

“Humans have evolved growing things, with animals around us, with harvests around us. It is something deeply, extraordinarily satisfying in humanity to live in that way.

“In some of the worst areas of London they have found they can get rid of vandalism simply by putting potted trees around. There is something about growing things we need, very, very simply need,” she said.

Jackie has learnt that by working with nature she doesn’t have any pest problems. She learnt that coddling moth and fruit fly only live for three weeks so could be controlled by not leaving fallen fruit around the trees: these were the infected fruit and by letting the ducks and sheep eat the fallen fruit, within three years there were no more coddling moths or fruit flies on her property.

“With every pest, with every weed, if you

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“There is something about growing things we need, very, very simply need,” - Jackie French work out how it is vulnerable you can get rid of it. There are all sorts of ways to get rid of any pest or weed; it’s just a matter of accepting it. The wombat showed me to see what’s there, by taking the blinkers off and seeing widely things as they are,” she said.

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world, but I can promise that if they have got the courage to look at the world as it actually is, to look beyond expectations, to look at what they deeply enjoy, to stand beside their friends and say, ‘This is wrong, and we must do something’, I can’t promise them a perfect world, but I can promise them they will never be bored.”

For years Jackie watched the council spray the blackberry plants, and they always came back bigger than before.

Instead of spraying on her own property, she mowed the blackberries, and within three years they stopped coming back.

Jackie’s cousin (six times removed), Bernie French, told her: “A drought is good for the bush: it just leaves the strongest.” She realised this is also true for gardens and gardeners. The strong survive.

When speaking with kids in schools, Jackie has heard them say the world won’t exist when they leave school. She tells them this: “Everyone in this room is descended from people who have survived ice ages and when the ice began to melt. We are descended from the people who survived the black death; maybe only one in ten people survived the various plagues like black death and Ebola, and we are from those survivors.

That included influenza epidemics, which killed one person in four. Humans, in fact, are good at challenges; what we’re not good at is boredom… What people do when they are bored is usually bloody stupid. I can’t promise kids a perfect

Our thanks to Somerset Storyfest for bringing Jackie French to speak at our September meeting.

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Jill’s Garden Update

by Jill Barber I’ve been trying a couple of new things in my garden this past winter, some because of a bit of a change in my diet, which now allows me to eat potatoes and tomatoes.

Also, any vegetables and fruit I buy are only organic now, and I’ve been really enjoying Dutch Cream potatoes, leaving their skins on since they won’t be full of pesticides. So, I took Diane up on her offer of some to plant for the first time ever.

Picking up on Jorge’s idea of growing in jeans, here they are, going great guns.

As I checked out in the Salvos, with the five biggest sizes available, the woman there said, “You’ll be making someone very happy with these”, to which I responded: “My potatoes will be!” As my intention to plant in them dawned on her, she cracked up, thought it was the greatest, and asked me to show her a photo of them when they were growing. I’ll go one better than that, though, and show her the grown potatoes as well, once they’re harvested.

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them before they were ripe enough to pick, having found the first one half ripe and half eaten on the ground! Maria advised me to bag them up with hankies, if I had any, to protect them while they completed their on-the-vine ripening. It works a charm!

I tie the diagonally opposite corners of the hanky together, first one pair, then the second, just as our Japanese homestay students showed me some years ago, for their “lunch box”. The first two corners can then be tied again, for a more secure bundle, if wanted, but I don’t need it here.

I find I need to check them every day or so, in case they’re ripe enough to pick, as the ones in the same cluster don’t all ripen at the same rate. Also, the plants are like jack-in-thebeanstalk the way they keep growing up, past the pergola built for shade cloth (which goes on soon, on our sun-drenched slope).

I’m having to cut the tops off now.

Tomatoes ripening on the vine, protected by hankies - on advice from Maria I had no idea what Michihili Cabbage was like before I planted them this year… and, as some of you may also have discovered, they’re nothing like the cabbages we buy or have grown here before.

Potatoes growing in old jeans The tomatoes are self-sown, like a few things in my garden. As they were ripening, I was concerned about birds getting to

I wonder if others have enjoyed the large, rather rough leaves? I don’t care for them much, and have found that the best use for them is letting them bolt and flower… the bees love them!

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Of course, the leaves of a lot of things, except for the lettuce (smiley face), are browning from the lack of rain (sad face)… and elsewhere it’s stormy raining, or snowing! Regardless, this is still the best place to be (no bushfires here).

Michihili Cabbage—best left for the bees Other self-sown vegies in my garden include parsley – I just love the way it grows up everywhere so I always have ample, to eat as well as give away! There’s also dill – you don’t need much to add some distinctive flavour to a dish; it goes especially well with fish, I find. Mustard Ruby Streaks and Mustard appear regularly now each season as well. I want my basil to go back to doing that again; I know I just need to let it go to seed…

Of course, last but not least of the self-sown vegies, are the marvellous Frilly Pink Lettuces, which I’ve been able to share with a lot of people this season, as seedlings, leaves or whole plants. (You can see a picture of me with one in the last newsletter). This is from the Biodynamic seed I bought several years ago; I must say that whatever’s grown Biodynamically is usually strong, healthy and tasty.

My garlic has been lying down for yonks now!

I don’t know if it’s still growing like this or if it just quit early in the piece…

Of further interest are the half egg shells I’ve been using as a dissuader to white cabbage moths to stay away from the brassicas.

Placed either near or preferably in the plant as it grows bigger, the egg shell lets the moths know that another “moth” is already here, so please move on. I find that it’s working, which is pretty important, given that the season has so quickly moved on to summer, and my brassicas are late growing!

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In this new section we will take a look inside our members’ gardens to see what’s growing well, what’s new and what they are most excited about.

Diane Kelly’s garden is abuzz.

She says the broccoli going to seed was bad planning, but she learnt that the native bees in particular love the flowers! They are a little hard to see in the photo, but there are dozens of them on the bloom, as well as a few honey bees.

Maria Roberson grew this giant white carrot with the grade four students at Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar.

Maggie Golightly is building this ‘Taj Mahal’ structure over her garden beds to provide some relief from the height of the sun in summer. She plants to make it a living roof and grow crops over the top of it, but until they are established the shadecloth will help.

Look What We Grew!

by Leah Johnston

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Stacey Panozzo’s garden is powering along with cucumber, kale, carrots, basil, spinach, silverbeet, beetroot and lettuce growing. Re-purposed wire cages are protecting newly planted seeds from bandicoots and the dog. There’s also some sun protection to stop the carrot seeds from drying out in the sun.

Please let us know what’s going on in your garden by sending your photos (and some words if you like) to Leah via email leahbryan9@gmail.com

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Firstly a Community, and then a Garden...

by Diane Kelly Continuing on in our series about Club members – and in this case a group of people - who are experts in their field, this month we are taking a look at the Mermaid Waters Community Garden.

How it began: About five years ago, Jade Li invited her mother to travel from China and visit the Gold Coast. Jade’s mother felt very isolated during that visit and decided to never do another trip here, and then Jade became aware that many migrant families face the same situation. Jade herself had moved to the Coast from a Chinese city of six million residents and found it difficult to connect with likeminded people, especially ones with similar cultural heritage. But one thing Jade knew – in dense cities, local parks always act as social hubs. Jade then began to explore the idea of a “Garden in the Park”, and so the Mermaid Waters Multicultural Garden began.

The first challenge was to find a location.

Being a resident of the area, Jade “discovered” Crocker Park, a small oasis of trees and lawns tucked in behind the corner of Markeri Street and Sunshine Boulevard. Jade approached the Gold Coast City Council (GCCC), and the result was two large garden beds (now expanded to five, with the recent creation of three new Tea and Herb Gardens) situated near the pavilion, playground and bathroom facilities. The GCCC has worked generously with the group, realizing that this new initiative would help the local community share activities, friendships and languages, and would help alleviate the loneliness that comes from living away from your home country, and quite often not shar-

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ing a common language.

As a pioneer project for the Coast, the GCCC has allowed the group the use of part of the park without a lease; it has provided free access to the town water supply; has supplied a secure storage area for the group, and more recently has constructed three very fine timberframed garden beds with surrounding walkways that will be used for growing many types of teas. Half a dozen trees have also been donated and planted by the Council, the leaves of which are to be used for various teas. And, in a gesture that is typical of what the group is achieving, the owner of one of the restaurants that back onto the park has volunteered to keep the trees watered from his shop.

Everyone sharing jobs “What we do”: The group’s mission statement is: “To create a friendly, vibrant and healthy community place for the promotion of cross-cultural contact, by building an edible garden, learning organic growing, and encouraging sustainable living.”

Or – as their Vision (replicated as a motto on the members’ tee-shirts) is: “Growing Community – one Vegetable at a Time”.

How it Works: The group meets every Thursday between 9am and 12 noon – and I am sure you would agree that to achieve that degree of involvement, interest and commitment for nearly five years, they must be doing something right. The main thing that comes across very strongly

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A garden ‘tidy up’

during the time I joined with the people at the park was that everyone shares. They bring morning tea – and if you’ve never tasted Shiitake Mushroom Chips, I highly recommend them – and the day I was there, tasty little chicken pies were provided by one of the members for the whole group. Tasks are shared – there is a roster in the storage room detailing who looks after the watering (which is obviously a challenge in the current dry times); certain people have favorite tasks (one lady is well-known for her love of weeding); and those who are able share the digging, weeding, spreading out of crowded seedlings; pruning and all the other tasks involved in maintaining vegetable and flower gardens.

But it doesn’t stop there. This project seems to be just the “means” of achieving “community”. From the weekly gettogethers come the building of friendships; the sharing of language (GCOG club member Danny Li has told me how he has learnt Mandarin since he has joined the group, just by chatting to the other gardeners). A large emphasis is on the idea of people learning how to garden at Croker Park, and then going home and creating their own backyard garden. Excess produce grown at home is brought in on a Thursday and shared.

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Seeds are saved and given to the group for those who want them – this is particularly useful, as the seeds of many of the foods enjoyed by this multi-cultural group are not readily available from Australian suppliers. For example – where else would you easily obtain the seeds from Okinawa Spinach, or cuttings of Pandan on the Gold Coast. Another benefit of the garden is that people learn to enjoy “Australian” food as well – there is a video on the Community’s Facebook page that records the great excitement of a potato harvest!

During the year the group organizes guest speakers – our own president Maria Roberson has given a presentation there; the people from “Grow” have done a talk; and one of the GCOG guest speakers has also talked to the Mermaid Waters group about the worm farms that you “plant” in your garden and feed weeds and other scraps. The group also hires a bus and goes on outings – for example, up to the Brisbane to a Jerry Coleby-Williams Open Day. They’ve been to GCOG’s members properties, and have especially enjoyed visiting Cathie and Rebecca’s gardens. The group has also hosted the Albert Waterways Kindegarten’s children and parents for a morning – the kids brought their sandwiches and were given lettuce leaves to add into them, and they learnt a

The new tea and herb gardens

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languages are part of the group, including Danish, Samoan, Chinese (from China and from Hong Kong), Taiwanese, New Zealanders, French and quite a number of Aussies.

- Although it seems that most of the members were gardeners before joining the group, they have found themselves gardening “better and more” – Danny said that when he joined, he had one area of garden in his backyard. Now he has 12!

The sign seems to be working

bit about watering and growing things in a garden.

A few other details: - The gardens are only surrounded by wire fences about 300mm high. This is not to keep people out, just any visiting dogs. The group shows great trust in the community not to take any of the produce, but instead invite anyone along to share the bounty and the hospitality on a Thursday morning.

- The emphasis is primarily on Community, and a close second comes Sharing.

This creates a team spirit among the members, as they share food, time, abilities and friendships. The two gardens are divided into two parts and each part has a leader – because as you know, where there are two gardeners, there are three opinions! So the leaders guide those who want to work in each section, but after that, it is all about sharing everything.

- Each year, the group brings along their contributions of food and they share a main meal – 60 people came to the very popular Winter Harvest Cookup!

- Several of the group’s members have attended GCOG meetings, and Danny attends each month – and always has interesting questions. As he says “GCOG is where I learnt everything I know!” And other people there expressed an interest in joining the GCOG, or reading the newsletter, which is all part of sharing on a broader scale.

So… regular attendance; enthusiastic volunteering; enjoyable outings; developing friendships; increased gardening expertise; sharing of time, knowledge and produce. This group certainly seems to be experts in what they are achieving – building a sharing Community.

- The group has cheery yellow tee-shirts with “Growing Community – one Vegetable at a Time” – Danny explained to me that for the Chinese, yellow represents happiness. Very suitable for this group!

- A large number of nationalities and

This says it all...

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OCTOBER 2019

EdibleScapes Update

by Jorge Cantellano

Activating Microorganism We found this unusual ecological art created by a microorganism web in a 200L drum, where we activate microorganisms in a compost tea cocktail. The cocktail contains compost + Vermicompost + Bokashi + Bio Liquid Fertiliser + Molasses + Lactobacillus + Fermented Mountain Microorganisms Leaf Land.

This is an indication that we are on the right track of nurturing living soil.

The goodness was also shown in our solid mixes. We expected to have an acid pH in our bokashi fertilisers because they contained 25% of coffee grounds, but, in fact, it is 7.5 pH neutral or mildly alkaline. The site soil test shows a neutral to slightly acid PH, and we expected to get more acid soil, influenced by some local information, but this was not the case. Also, the site soil was taken from our working garden bed, which had already been mixed with composted mulch in the last one to two years. Maybe this organic matter was enough to fix the pH. Our Solid Biofertiliser mix included: compost, vermicompost, bokashi and microorganism leaf land (4,2,2,0.5 parts

EdibleScapes pH respectively), and was show a neutral 7.5 pH. I call it ‘microorganism leaf land’ because of the appearance of the finished product generated by the microorganism reproduction (MM) process, which we started a couple of months ago.

The growing substrate mix has a neutral 7 pH. This mix contains: ¼ garden soil, ¼ creek sand and 50% of the Solid Biofertiliser mix.

EdibleScapes has invested substantial time and resources in learning by doing, in the art and craft of producing solid and liquid bio fertiliser. Now is the time to put it to work and observe how bio fertiliser solids and liquids bring life to soil and food to plants. From September, the EdibleScapes working bees will be about gardening, sowing, propagation, replanting, etc. We will be feeding plants, fruit trees and soil with our organic fertilisers, fabricated with organic matter, collected locally and rescued from going to landfill.

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A trip to Diggers

by Leah Johnston

In early September I went to visit the Diggers Club’s ‘Heronswood’ garden, in Dromana, Victoria. I have been a Diggers customer for years so was excited to see one of their gardens in real life. I went along with my aunty who is also a passionate gardener.

We started with a late lunch at the restaurant, located in the beautiful historic house which overlooks the ocean. We both enjoy trying new things so ordered a beetroot panna cotta. Love beetroot, love panna cotta, but beetroot panna cotta was so much worse than it sounds.

It looked vibrant on the plate surrounded by pomelo segments, but as soon as I put it in my mouth it transformed into pureed beetroot that you would feed a baby. Most unpleasant, but fun to try nonetheless. The quinoa risotto and roasted root vegetables (Jerusalem artichokes; purple skin, white inside sweet potato; parsnips; carrots with the skin on; kipfler potatoes and turnips) were delicious.

Lunch in the “fork to fork” restaurant

pretty edible gardens can be. Though we were both surprised to see so many weeds in the gardens, too! Not just little weeds either, but some quite advanced ones, and several had even managed to go to seed without the professional gardeners pulling them out. This made us feel better about our own gardens as even the ‘professional gardeners’ still have weeds! We also resisted the strong urge to yank them out as we walked along (friends are quite happy if you re-

Walking around the gardens, I thought it was great to see the plants in their adult forms, and see how big some actually get. I expected to see name tags on everything though, but only some plants were labelled. It was inspiring to see how

Check out those weeds!

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move a weed as you walk around their garden and chat), but we didn’t want to risk getting kicked out of Heronswood.

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Let It Grow

by Leah Johnston (If you have young kids or grandkids, I bet you just sang the title of this article to the tune of ‘Let It Go’ from the movie Frozen.)

In September I went along to a GECKO talk titled ‘Seedling or Weedling’ presented by Rusty Linnane. I went thinking he might be a good speaker for GCOG one night, but it was really aimed at bush regenerators and people living on large bush blocks and wanting to know which plants are weeds that need to be removed, and which are natives to leave alone. It was still interesting, though, and there were some take-away tips for us organic edible gardeners, which I will share with you now.

Rusty had some photos of native seedlings and exotic weed seedlings, and said that for every native plant there is an introduced weed that looks very similar.

After 20 years in the field, he is still learning, and said for every plant he knows there are probably 10 or 20 he doesn’t know. He has seen many experienced bush regen people removing native seedlings, thinking they were weeds (and then replanting them when he has corrected them).

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gardens we can get to know which weeds to look out for and remove them as early as possible. You can get a print out of the regional ecosystem to see what native vegetation grows in your area, to help narrow down what species you’re looking for, at the website: https://www.qld.gov.au/environment/ plants-animals/plants/ecosystems

Rusty’s observation that “If there’s lots of disturbance of the land you’ll find more weeds” is so true. Digging in the garden can bring weed seeds lying dormant in the soil closer to the surface, where they can germinate. We’ve had several speakers advise us against digging as it can cut up the worms and harm the mycorrhizal fungi and microbial populations of your soil. So, as much as I love Peter Cundall, maybe we don’t want to get out there and give the garden a good digging after all.

“The easiest time to remove a weed is when it’s a seedling: it takes less time, and it hasn’t spread as far,” Rusty said.

Rusty’s best advice, which I already live by, is: “If you don’t know, just let it grow.”

As a beginner gardener, I know there’s a lot that I don’t know. Years ago I saw a plant growing that I didn’t recognise, and since I didn’t recognise it as a weed I let it grow until I was sure. Then one day, after going to see The Very Hungry Caterpillar play with my kids, I noticed a beautiful Monarch butterfly landing and flying and landing again on this plant. Looking closer I saw that it was laying little yellow eggs on the underside of the leaves! A quick Google revealed it to be Milkweed.

Yes, a weed by name, but I’m so glad I left it growing in my garden as this started my passion for butterfly gardening. (And don’t worry, I don’t let it go to seed to spread on the wind. I cut the seed balls off and propagate the seeds myself in my greenhouse as I always need more plants to feed my butterflies).

As we well know, one year’s seeds equals seven years weeds! In our own

So there’s a lot of grey areas when it comes to ‘weeds’. After all, a weed is just

It’s easy to identify weeds in their adult forms, like lantana, with its distinctive flowers, but when they are seedlings, it’s hard to know which is friend and which is foe.

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a plant growing in the wrong location.

Scottish thistle is a beautiful flower in Scotland, but a pesky weed in Australia.

If you’re unsure of any plants you find growing in your garden, you can pot it up, or break a bit off, and bring it along to our November meeting, where our own John Palmer will be talking all about the weeds we find where we live. There will also be many that you know are weeds, but didn’t know whether they have any beneficial uses, like edible ones you can add to your salads or green smoothies.

Recipes The Healthiest Cookies EVER

By Amy Lukens Gluten, sugar and egg FREE

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Jill Barber’s Seed Crackers Ingredients: 200gm sunflower seeds/pine nuts/ or chopped macadamia nuts 200gm pepitas 60gm flaxseed 100gm sesame seeds 2T psyllium husks and/or chia seeds 500 ml water OR 400 ml water + 100ml coconut aminos/unsalted soy sauce ½ - 1 tsp sea salt Method: Heat oven to 160 degrees Celsius.

Combine ingredients and let stand till thick and pliable (about 10 mins).

Amy had these yummy balls on the supper table a couple of meetings ago.

Line two large baking trays with baking paper.

Ingredients:

Spread mixture on evenly, with a rubber spatula, as thinly as possible, without leaving holes.

1 c walnuts 1/3 c dates 1/3 c figs 2T chia seeds Pinch Sea salt 1 tsp bi-carb soda 1 T apple cider vinegar 1 tsp vanilla extract Method: Soak chia seeds till glutinous.

Process walnuts.

Process next three ingredients.

Mix all together and squeeze into balls.

Optional extra: roll in shredded coconut.

Infused with love.

Cook till crispy (70-80 minutes).

Leave to cool, then break up/ score with a sharp wide blade.

Store in airtight containers. (Keep crumbs to sprinkle over salad, dessert, cheese, etc).

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FRUIT TREES OCTOBER Custard Apple: Increase irrigation. Mulch trees. Apply 2g boron/sqm.

Figs: Pruning should be done. Figs only produce on new wood or new season’s growth. Mulch well.

Lychee: Peak water needs. Mulch. Apply gypsum 20gms/sqm.

Low chill stone fruit: Spring prune new growth. Continue with high irrigation. Prune out water shoots and dense foliage for better size fruit. Use fruit fly control programs, for example netting or an attractant method.

Mango: Peak water needs. Apply organic fertiliser with sulphate of potash, 1kg for larger trees and 1/2kg for smaller trees. Spray with copper based spray or leaf microbes for anthracnose per fortnight.

Passion-fruit: Plant out new vines. Pruning carried out this month. All dead parts to go.

Keep up the water.

Paw-paw: Increase irrigation. Apply 20 gms per sq m of organic fertiliser.

Strawberries: Apply small amount of organic fertiliser with sulphate of potash, about 10g / plant. Keep up with fish emulsion or kelp spray weekly.

Bananas: Have one plant with fruit on, one half grown and one sucker. Discard all others. De-sucker plants by cutting down to centre with a sharp knife taking the centre out and add 1 teaspoon of kerosene in the well.

Citrus: Keep up the water. Add lime or gypsum. Mature trees 1/2kg, 1/4kg for small trees.

Source: Brisbane Organic Growers Handbook

GCOG

NOVEMBER Custard Apple: Increase irrigation. Mulch trees. Apply fertiliser with Sulpate of Potash 1kg-mature trees, 1/2kg-small trees.

Figs: Pruning should be done. Figs only produce on new wood or new season’s growth.

Keep well mulched and watered.

Lychee: Peak water needs.

Low chill stone fruit: Use fruit fly control programs. When fruiting is finished and harvested, prune trees.

Mango: Peak water needs.

Passion-fruit: Prune. All dead parts to go.

Keep up the water.

Paw-paw: Increase irrigation. Apply 20 gms per sq m of organic fertiliser.

Strawberries: Keep well watered to encourage runners for next year.

Bananas: Have one plant with fruit on, one half grown and one sucker. Discard all others.

De-sucker plants by cutting down to centre with a sharp knife taking the centre out and add 1teaspoon of kerosene in the well. Apply fertiliser, 1kg/stool.

Citrus: Keep up the water. Spray with pest oil for leaf miner. Paint trunks with a white waterbased paint.

Source: Brisbane Organic Growers Handbook

Plant dreams, pull weeds and grow a happy life.

GCOG

Page 19

VEGETABLES

OCTOBER 2019

HERBS

OCTOBER

OCTOBER

Artichoke, Asian Greens, Asparagus, Beans (French), Beetroot, Capsicum, Carrot, Celeriac, Chilli, Choko, Cucumber, Eggplant, Gourd, Kale, Lettuce, Luffa, Marrow, Melons, Mustard Greens, Okra, Peanut, Pumpkin, Radish, Rosella, Shallots, Squash, Sunflower, Sweet Corn, Sweet Potato, Tomato, Zucchini.

Annual: Basil, Borage, Calendula, Dill, Herb Robert, Italian parsley, Misome, Mizuna, Giant Red Mustard, Mustard Lettuce, Nasturtium, Rocket.

NOVEMBER Artichoke, Asian Greens, Beans (French & Snake), Capsicum, Chilli, Choko, Cucumber, Eggplant, Gourd, Kale, Lettuce, Luffa, Marrows, Melons, Mustard Greens, Okra, Peanut, Pumpkin, Radish, Rhubarb, Rosella, Shallots, Squash, Sunflower, Sweet corn, Sweet potato, Tomato, Zucchini.

Perennials & Bi-Annuals: Catnip, Ceylon Spinach, Chicory, Chilli, Chives, Comfrey, Perennial Coriander, Echinacea, Fennel, Hyssop, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Licorice, Lovage, Marjoram, Mint, Mushroom Plant, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Salad Burnet, Stevia, French Tarragon, Thyme, Upland Cress, Watercress, Winter Savoury.

NOVEMBER Annual: Amaranth, Basil, Borage, Calendula, Dill, Herb Robert, Italian parsley, Misome, Mizuna, Giant Red Mustard, Nasturtium, Rocket, Salad Mallow.

Perennials & Bi-Annuals: Catnip, Ceylon Spinach, Chicory, Chilli, Chives, Comfrey, Perennial Coriander, Echinacea, Fennel, Hyssop, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Licorice, Lovage, Marjoram, Mint, Mushroom Plant, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Salad Burnet, Stevia, French Tarragon, Thyme, Upland Cress, Watercress, Winter Savoury, Winter Tarragon.

Source: Queensland Planting Guide

Whilst every effort is made to publish accurate information the association (including Editor, Executive Officers and Committee) accepts no responsibility for statements made or opinions expressed in this newsletter.

If not claimed in 14 days, please return to: GCOG, PO Box 210, Mudgeeraba Q 4213

NEWSLETTER

Meetings held: 3rd Thursday of the Month Doors open at 7pm, meetings start at 7.30pm and run until approximately 9.30pm

Meeting place: Cnr Guineas Creek Road & Coolgardie Street Elanora, Gold Coast

Next meeting: Thursday 21ST NOVEMBER 2019